About Us
Machen Retreat and Conference Center
There’s a quiet kind of peace in the mountains of Highland County, VA.
The winding roads twist up and down, the cell signal fades away, and the noise of the world finally gives room for stillness, for worship, for friendship, for hearing God’s Word without distraction. It is a place of retreat, connection, and growth in Christ.
“I learned to escape…”
“…from the heartless machinery of the world, and the equally heartless machinery…of a church organization nominally dedicated to Christ, and refresh my soul with the friendliness of the hills.”
J. Gresham Machen a Silhouette by Henry W. Coray
Personnel
Retreat Operating Committee (ROC)
Machen Retreat is overseen by a committee of men and women from the Presbyteries of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
Gerald Taylor
Committee Member
Gerald attends Staunton OPC in Staunton, Virginia and is a member of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic
Anne C. J. Peter
Director & Social Media Manager
Anne Peter is a member of Staunton OPC in Staunton, VA in the Presybytery of the Mid-Atlantic.
Tappey Jones
Secretary
Tappey is an elder at Staunton OPC in Staunton, Virginia of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic.
Chris Wisdom
Committee Member
Anna Wagner
Treasurer
Anna Wagner is a member of Staunton OPC in Staunton, Virginia of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic.
Ethan Allison
Committee Member
Ethan Allison is the pastor of Staunton OPC in Staunton, Virginia, and is a member of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic
Dr. Stephen Jenkins
Committee Member
Jake Hughes
Chairman
Jake Hughes is a member of Reformation OPC in Virginia Beach, Virginia, attending Peninsula Reformed OPC in Yorktown.
Brian Withnell
Committee Member
Brian Withnell is a deacon and member of Bethel OPC in Leesburg, Virgina.
Liam Coombes
Committee Member
Your Generous Support
We are able to serve and minister to hundreds of individuals, families, and churches through gifts, our dedicated volunteers, and the help of a great God.
Support is needed to maintain and expand the facilities. Read on to learn about our vision and to find out how to donate.
J. Gresham Machen
The Machen Retreat and Conference Center is named after John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) – professor, theologian, author, churchman and leader in the organization of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Mountains and Why We Love Them
“What right have I to speak about mountain-climbing? The answer is very simple. I have none whatever. I have, indeed, been in the Alps four times. The first time I got up Monte Rosa, the second highest of the Alps, and one or two others of the easier Zermatt peaks. (Read More)
Constraining Love
[..] Paul speaks of love as a constraining force. Love, he says, hems us in. There are certain things which love prevents us from doing. Earlier in the passage, he has spoken of another restraining force—namely, fear. (Read More)
J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir
“An intimate and personal account which leaves no aspect of Machen’s full and brilliant life untouched, Ned B. Stonehouse’s full-scale portrait is a vivid and inspiring picture of a Christian of apostolic ardor who, at his untimely death in 1937, was called “the first Protestant minister in the nation.” (Read More)
Defending the Faith
“In the early twentieth century J. Gresham Machen emerged as one of America’s best known Protestant intellectuals and a widely respected fundamentalist. But as an opponent of Prohibition and defender of civil liberties, Machen became an improbable ally of secular intellectuals who sought to liberate cultural and intellectual life from Protestant dominance. (Read More)
Machen Retreat and Conference Center
Location
6 Job’s Hill Rd
McDowell, VA 24458
Phone
(540) 396-3650
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2